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Ramp up recycling

SAVANNAH CITY Manager Michael Brown says now may be the time for the city to consider a recycling plan. We agree.

But like all proposals, the key to success lies in the details.

A group called Savannah Recycles! has recommended a detailed plan calling for the city to begin voluntary curbside recycling. Under this proposal, the city would have to purchase land for and build a recycling sorting facility.

Although the city has not officially proposed a plan, Mr. Brown and other city officials say that when they do so, it will likely not include a sorting facility. Instead, residents would sort recyclables themselves. If this approach is successful, city officials said they would consider expanding the program later on.

Other possible plans includes one in which the city outsources the entire process, including curbside collection, to a third-party vendor. Or, it could collect recycled goods and sell them to a third party, which would then sort the materials and resell them.

While we appreciate Mr. Brown's cautious approach, the city needs to be more aggressive and implement a plan that more closely resembles the Savannah Recycles! recommendation. It's doubtful the more modest approach of having residents sort their own recyclables will have enough participation to make it worthwhile. It's human nature. Most people take the easiest way out when it comes to extra work.

Although the Savannah Recycles! plan requires the largest initial capital expenditure, it also offers the city the best chance of having a revenue-neutral program or perhaps one that generates new revenues.

Savannah Recycles! is no pie-in-the-sky, do-gooder group. Its members include hard-nosed business and civic leaders who began meeting in April 2005 to assess whether curbside recycling could be viable in Savannah. They have produced an exhaustive report based on their research, which included a trip to Charleston, S.C. to observe that city's recycling program.

According to the group's report, Savannah could fund the recycling proposal it recommends without raising fees now paid by residents. The start-up cost would be about $3.5 million and would include a 25,000-square-foot sorting facility, two acres of land for such a facility, 10 new garbage trucks and a $300,000 contingency fund.

There are two keys, however, to the proposal's success. First, it would require 30 percent participation by city residents. The assumption is that only half of what the participants throw out would be recyclable, which - in the current market - would generate about $115,000 annually in sales of recycled goods. Of course, if participation is greater, the revenue generation will be greater.

Secondly, the city could offset recycling costs by using money that now funds the debt service on the city's incinerator. The funds will be freed up when bonds on the incinerator are retired in November.

Additional funding may be available through state grants that could cover capital and equipment costs. Also, the sorting facility could generate additional revenues as more people who are accustomed to recycling move to town from areas that already have such a program. That's a strong possibility. More than 8,000 communities nationwide, including 180 in Georgia, have some type of curbside recycling.

There are many good reasons to recycle, beyond the "it's the right thing to do" argument.

Savannah Recycles! estimates that its proposal could reduce the amount of recyclable material being burned in the city's incinerator. The result would be less ash being sent to the city landfill, potentially extending the life of the landfill by three years.

Michael Brown's recent comments that he will recommend some sort of recycling program later this year is a good step forward. But whatever plan the city develops, it must encourage public participation. Otherwise, an investment and opportunity will be wasted.